The Wailing Souls are promoting their new album, Back A Yard, which was released digitally on August 28 by Greensleeves Records. The duo of Lloyd “Bread” McDonald and Winston “Pipe” Matthews completed production on the set in June last year with singer Alborosie.
The 10-song set was recorded at Alborosie’s home studio in Kingston, with veteran musicians Tyrone Downie on keyboards and bassist Flabba Holt working on it. The Italian singer, who has been a fan of the ‘Souls’ since his youth in Sicily, teams up with them on a cover of their 1989 song, Shark Attack.
“As a artist yuh can never be 100 per cent satisfied but I think it’s a great album an’ I know di fans will love it,” said McDonald.
He and Matthews were scheduled to launch a 25-date tour of the United States in June but that had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. They performed at the One Love Festival in Long Beach, California in February.
Back A Yard also contains Down in Trench Town, the gritty Kingston community where the Wailing Souls started in 1966. Their most fruitful years were in the 1970s and early 1980s when they recorded as a quartet at Channel One for the Hoo Kim brothers and Henry “Junjo” Lawes.
While at Channel One, their hit songs included Things And Time, Jah Jah Give us Life, War, Bredda Gravalicious and Firehouse Rock.
Back A Yard is The Wailing Souls’ first album since 2017’s Island Girl. It will be released on compact disc and vinyl in November.
Written by Howard Campbell
